Simone Inzaghi and Luciano Spalletti have made the cut of the exclusive list of coaches nominated for the Best FIFA Men’s Coach award.
The former guided Inter to the Champions League final – their first in over a decade – last season and secured silverware in the Coppa Italia, whilst the latter electrified Napoli and drove them to their first Scudetto in 33 years.
Two Napoli players were nominated for the The Best FIFA Men’s Player award – Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia – and former Inter midfielder Marcelo Brozovic was also on the list of 12.
As announced by FIFA today, Inzaghi and Spalletti are on the list of five nominees for the The Best Men’s Coach award, joining Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola, Tottenham’s Ange Postecoglou and Barcelona’s Xavi.
The last Italian coach to win the award was Claudio Ranieri in 2016, who won following Leicester City’s historic Premier League triumph.
Last year, Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti came second to Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni and the year prior Roberto Mancini came second with Italy behind then-Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel.